New from Cambridge University Press!

Sociolinguistics from the Periphery "presents a fascinating book about change: shifting political, economic and cultural conditions; ephemeral, sometimes even seasonal, multilingualism; and altered imaginaries for minority and indigenous languages and their users."

Summary Details

IN APRIL (!) I POSTED A QUERY ABOUT THE PROS AND CONS OF FIELD TAPERECORDERS. I WOULD LIKE TO THANK ROBERT ENGLEBRETSON, DOUGLASS. OLIVER, AND MJ HARDMAN AND FOR THEIR HELPFUL AND DETAILEDRESPONSES. I WILL BE (FAR A-)FIELD-TESTING A SONY TCD-D8 DAT RECORDERIN A MATTER OF DAYS. THANKS AGAIN -- ARIENNE DWYER (MAINZ)DWYER@GOOFY.ZDV.UNI-MAINZ.DE

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R.ENGLEBRETSON WRITES, IN PART:THE ADVANTAGES OF DAT INCLUDE: (1.) STORAGE CAPACITY. AT 32K, WHICHIS MORE THAN SUFFICIENT SAMPLING FOR ACOUSTIC ANALYSIS, YOU HAVE FOURHOURS OF UNINTERRUPTED RECORDING. THIS IS ESPECIALLY NICE FORRECORDING CONVERSATIONAL DATA (ESPECIALLY WHEN THE RESEARCHER IS NOTPRESENT), AND DOES AWAY WITH WORRYING ABOUT FLIPPING AND CHANGINGCASSETTES. (2.) RECORDING QUALITY. WITH A GOOD MICROPHONE, QUALITYIS FAR BETTER THAN ANY CASSETTE RECORDER EVER COULD BE, ESPECCIALLYREGARDING TAPE NOISE. AS FOR MICROPHONES, I'VE HAD GOOD EXPERIENCESWITH THE SONY ECM-959A STEREO MICROPHONE (A GREAT MIC IN TERMS OFFREQUENCY RESPONSE AND PRICE) AND ALSO WITH SONY ECM-155 LAPEL MICS.(I'VE HAD FAIRLY BAD EXPERIENCES WITH THE SONY ECM-909 MIC, ANDSIMILAR MICS OF LESSER PRICE.) (3.) SIZE. THE PORTABLE DAT I USE ISIN FACT SMALLER THAN THE SONY PROFESSIONAL (CASSETTE) WALKMAN.(...SNIPPAGE...)

I DON'T KNOW THAT DAT WOULD BE ANY LESS TIME-CONSUMING. UNLESS YOUHAVE A SOUNDCARD WHICH SUPPORTS DIRECT DIGITAL INPUT (IN WHICH CASETHERE WILL PROBABLY BE ISSUES WITH SAMPLING RATE), MOST PEOPLE FINDTHEY END UP CONNECTING THE LINE OUT FROM THEIR DAT INTO THE LINE IN ONTHE COMPUTER-- ESSENTIALLY RE-DIGITIZING THE ANALOG SIGNAL FROM THEDAT LINE-OUT.